The open-plan office has brought with it the need for acoustic privacy. Although many existing partition systems offer easily configured visual shielding, they do not always provide an equivalent amount of acoustic shielding. The conventional solution to excessive noise is the standard suspended ceiling panel of absorptive material. It is fixed in place and only of very limited use in certain cases. Often, additional absorptive material must be added to a space to reduce reverberation and noise. Modern acoustical principles suggest also that the additional absorptive material be strategically located at or near the source of the annoying sound.
At present, no system exists for providing strategically located absorptive panels in workspaces without expensive contractors or physical alteration of existing ceiling or wall surfaces. The present device is developed as a solution to this problem. It is meant to be a self-contained unit, many of which could be distributed throughout a space as needed. In its closed form, it would contain a multiplicity of absorbing panels arranged in a dense, closely-packed, volume-efficient configuration. When opened to its in-use position, it would array the same number of absorbent panels into a configuration meant to expose the greatest amount of surface area to absorb sound. The device can be supported on its own base, attached to a vertical wall surface or adapted readily to mount in various ways on typical workstation partition systems. The device therefore is useful in controlling sound in many different locations without taking up large areas when not in use or when being shipped. Panels of absorbent material would be easily replaceable, or the panels of different manufacturers could be adapted easily since they are normally of modular dimensions.
A helical arrangement of sound absorbing panels, either vertically or horizontally arrayed accomplishes this result. This helical arrangement is unique in that it provides ease of assembly and disposition and an alternating distribution of absorbent panels and air spaces or gaps to maximize absorption when in its open position, and then rotates into a compact shape when not in use, or dissassembles quickly and individual panels may then be stacked away efficiently.